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Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven

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Edgar Allen Poe is well known for the overall depressing and morbid ideals that are typically associated with his work. The Raven encompasses these dark ideals flawlessly. Fueling the nightmares of readers for nearly two-hundred years, The Raven is undoubtedly a work of mystifying and intriguing art. The last stanza of the poem condenses the nightmares of Poe in six short lines. These six lines reiterate the depths of despair and self-torment reached by the narrator.
The most drastic and obvious shift that occurs with the last stanza of The Raven is the shift from past to present tense. The narrator is no longer speaking of a dreadful experience that he safely emerged from. Rather, the narrator's fate is now uncertain. Poe used this effect …show more content…

Poe uses this method to emphasize the reality of the speaker's situation. The raven is still sitting on the bust and will remain to do so for an indefinite amount of time. Unable to break free of the darkness the Raven has brought into his life, the speaker is trapped in a desperate deranged state for the rest of his existence.
By the final stanza of The Raven, the speaker has progressed unto the theory that the Raven is from Hades. The connection of the Raven to Hades is reinforced with the imagery found in line 105, “And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,” This line not only provides a vivid image of the Ravens terrifying eyes but also confirmes that the speaker now sees the Raven as a creature sent from Hades, destined to torment his soul for eternity.
The last three lines further strengthen the depths of despair in which the speaker has reached. A light is shown over the Raven casting a shadow that the soul of the speaker may never escape. The shadow consuming the soul of the speaker is a metaphor for the presence of the Raven pushing the speaker further into his own depression. The primary emphasis of his permanent state is driven by the single iconic word

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